Miniscope

Miniscopes were sideshow attractions which displayed the lives of intelligent and nonintelligent creatures for entertainment. The creatures on display were actually miniaturised and kept in secure micro-environments within the device itself.

Within the miniscope were a number of sealed habitats, often intended to replicate the native time and place of the specimens inside, though in some cases the environment mixed and matched specimens from various times and/or places to maximise the habitat's entertainment value.

The specimens were reduced in size by a factor of about 72 and kept this way by a compression field generated by the miniscope. Specimens extracted from the field resumed their original size.

Sentient specimens were hypnotically conditioned not to notice any signs that they might have been extracted from their native environment (such as access panels in their habitat) and generally lived through a specific set of events over and over again. The behaviour of the specimens could also be modified to a limited degree by the scope's operator, although the fact that (for example) artificially induced aggression affected intruders in the miniscope as well as specimens indicates that this was a separate mechanism to the conditioning. This control was only effective for creatures of some intelligence. Creatures like Drashigs were too unintelligent to control. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)

Most miniscope operators ceased trading following the ban, but a few continued to run their peepshows, particularly shady individuals of dubious character. (TV: Carnival of Monsters, PROSE: Goth Opera)

Romana II was later stranded in another miniscope by the renegade Time Lord Ruath. This scope was in the possession of the adventurer Sabalom Glitz at the time. It also contained a Drashig habitat, suggesting this was a standard or popular feature of many miniscopes. Romana escaped. (PROSE: Goth Opera)